Derby Business School

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Developing and Managing Performance

6. The Role of the Line Manager

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By the end of this session you will be able to:

Discuss the devolution of people management to line managers

Analyse the importance of line management in performance management
Critically evaluate the ability and motivation of line managers to manage
people effectively and the opportunities provided to them to do so.

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The evolving role of the line manager in people

management
Causes:
Results:
New strategic role for HR
an IRS survey (2006) found
Integrated/shared responsibility for
that in six in ten organisations
people management (partnership)
FLMs had taken on more
Proximity to employees
responsibility in the past three
Technological advances
years and in a recent CIPD
Team briefing, appraising etc
survey of HR/training
direct management initiatives rather
specialists almost three
than channelling through trade
quarters of respondents
unions
reported that line managers
Decentralisation, financial autonomy
had increased involvement for
and responsibility
learning and development
Cost cutting
activities in the last two years
(CIPD 2007c) (Purcell et al
2009:62)

Growing responsibility for people management

Implementation:
Appraisal
Attendance management
Recruitment and Selection
Communication
Training and development
Disciplinary and Grievance
Career Development
Reward decisions
Administration

Design:

The CIPD learning and

development survey finds that 51
per cent of respondents claim line
managers have some involvement
in determining learning and
development strategy, and 4 per
cent say the main responsibility
rested with line management
(CIPD 2007C) (Purcell et al
2009:63)

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Why are line managers so important?

1. Implementation: Rhetoric v Reality
The HR causal Chain model
Intended HR
practices

Actual
HR practices

Experienced
practices

Line manager
enactment

While some HR practices may have an impact on employees directly, most

rely on line manager action or supportEmployee perceptions of HR
practices are therefore likely to be influenced by how their managers
implement and enact these HR practices, or bring practices to life (Purcellet
al 2009:65)

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e.g. Enactment of Reward Policy and Practice

(Purcell and Hutchinson 2007)
The line manager must
Set and communicate standard
of performance/behaviour
Clarify the aims of reward
schemes
Assess performance levels
Communicate assessment
decisions to staf
Defend decisions

But.
Difficulties differentiating
between staff
Lack ownership of the process
Find it time consuming and
bureaucratic
Poor appraisal skills to assess
performance
Dislike holding difficult
conversations

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Training and
development

Recruitment
& selection
Pay
satisfaction
Work life
balance

Performance
appraisal

Ability and
skill
Motivation
and
incentive
Opportunit
y to
participate

Front line
management
- implementing
- enacting
- leading
- controlling

Challenge/
autonomy
Teamworking

Career
opportunity

Involvement
Communication

Job
security

Organisation
commitment

Discretionary
Behaviour

Motivation
Job
Satisfaction

Performance
outcomes +

Why are Line

Managers so
Critical?
(Purcell et al 2003)

Why are line managers important?

2. Discretionary Behaviour?
Making choices in the way jobs are done (e.g. speed,
care, innovation, style of job delivery)
Hard to define monitor/control the effort/innovation
and productive behaviours required
Everyday behaviours that the employer wants but relies
on the employee to deliver

Can be conscious or unconscious

Can be withdrawn, reciprocal, individual or collective
(breaching the contract)

Why are line managers important?

3. Relationships
Social exchange
theoryemphasises the
important of leadership
behaviour and tell us that a
reciprocal relationship exists
between employees
perceptions of the degree of
support the organisations
provided to meet their
expectations and their own
behaviour (Purcell et al
2009:64)

Leader-Member Exchange Theory:

LMX (Uhl Bien et al 2000)
Subordinate effort
Subordinate commitment
Subordinate loyalty and support
Open communication
Assistance with administrative
duties
Organisational citizenship behaviour
(OCB)
Less use of pressure tactics to
influence the leader
Higher satisfaction
Better performance

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Agents of the organisation

(Hutchinson 2013)

To what extent do you

trust your senior
management to look after
your best interests?

A lot
Somewhat
Only a little
Not at all

%
25
34
23
18

(Guest and Conway, CIPD 2004)

the immediate supervisor

plays a critical role as a key
agent of the organisation
through which members form
their perceptions of the
organisation (Liden et al 2004)
employees views of the
organisation can be shaped by
the overall quality of their
relationship with their line
manager (Hutchinson 2013:73)

Activity assessed

Line managers ability to

Absence management
(Milsome

Handled
Handled Handled
well %people
badly
% adequately %
handle
management

15.4
46.2
2006, cited in Hutchinson
2013:82) 38.5

Appraisal and performance management

18.6

20.9

60.5

Discipline

20.0

20.0

60.0

Employee engagement

16.7

22.2

61.1

Flexible working

43.8

6.3

50.0

16.7

83.3

Grievances
Performance pay

16.7

20.8

62.5

Personnel records

33.3

50.0

16.7

Recognition of employee performance

9.1

30.3

60.6

Recruitment

33.3

16.7

50.0

Selection

34.6

15.4

50.0

Team briefing

25.7

18.8

55.4

Team development

21.3

34.4

44.3

Training-induction

47.4

10.5

42.1

Training on going

28.2

28.2

43.6

Employee welfare

2.5

12.5

75

Why do line managers fail?

(Review Hutchinson 2013 pgs 83-89)

Ability

Motivation

Opportunity

Competence of line managers to undertake some of

the tasks (skills and knowledge)
Feeling of line managers they dont need training
its common sense
Faddish nature of PM&D interventions seen it all
before.
Line management disdain for HRM/PM&D work
Not a rewarded or recognised element of their job
Competing work pressures not seen as a priority
Perceived as too difficult
Benefits not understood
Heavy workload, lack of time
Lack of support, recognition and rewards for
undertaking HR? Its not my job!

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The role of the line manager in reward

Respondents viewed the costs of IPRP as significantly outweighing its benefits.
The amount of managerial time it subsumed, the conflicts it could create and the
potential for decisions that decreased rather than increased levels of employee
trust were seen as more likely to lead to adverse consequences than positive
outcomes (Harris 2001 p1191)

Lack of involvement in reward design Line managers felt schemes

were imposed (therefore lack of ownership)
Perceived size of compensation pot too small for such a small
amount it is not worth the hassle involved (p1186)
Taking up growing amounts of managerial time
Criticism of associated bureaucracy and paper work the paper trail
becoming and end in itself
Too great a focus on individual targets negative impact on flexibility
and creativity
Unworkable in periods of significant internal restructuring and should
be discontinued (p1188)
Priority on reinforcing managerial trustworthiness leading to abdication
management

Hidden Agendas impact on IPRP effectiveness

(Harris 2001 p1184)
Hidden Agenda
Change the culture
Remove complacency

Stated Objectives
Increase employee
commitment
Improve individual motivation
Better communications
Greater feedback

Make managers
manage

Perceived Outcomes

Save salary costs

Increases stress and anxiety

Reduce staffing levels

Focus on control

Increase work loads

Growth f uncertainty

More control

Protection of individual
territory

More employee flexibility

Focus on under
performance

Focus on business objectives

Greater compliance

More responsibility to line

managers
Fairer reward systems
Identify and reward good
performance

Reduced employee flexibility

Erosion of commitment
Distrust of management
Feelings of unfairness
Loss of goodwill
Motivates high performer in
short term

The need for line manager support

(Review Hutchinson 2013 pgs 89-93)

Education on the reasons for
introducing HR policies and
The picture we have of the
practices
FLM role, therefore, is one of
Training on how to implement
increasing responsibilities, work
them
overload, role ambiguity and
Well-designed, consistent and
dilemmas concerning
appropriate HR policies for
competing priorities. Line
management to apply
managers often have other
Involvement of line managers
more immediate business
in policy design
priorities than managing the
People management objectives
people working for them, and
Recognition and reward of
consequently people
people management activities
management may be taken
Realistic workloads
less seriously (Purcell et al
Senior Management support
2009:62)

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Partnership Working

Further Reading

Harris L (2001) Rewarding employee performance: line managers values,

beliefs and perspectives, International Journal of Human Resource
Management, Vol 12 No 7 pp11820-01192
Purcell J, Hutchinson S (2007) Front-line managers as agents in the HRMperformance causal chain: theory, analysis and evidence, Human Resource
Management Journal, Vol 17, No 1, 3-19
Purcell J, Hutchinson S (2007) Rewarding work, The vital role of line
managers, London, CIPD Available at http://www.cipd.co.uk/hrresources/research/rewarding-work-vital-line-managers-role.aspx
Renwick D (2003) Line manager involvement in HRM: an inside view,
Employee Relations, Vol 25 No 3: 262-280
Whittaker S, Marchington M (2003) Devolving HR responsibility to the line,
Threat: opportunity or partnership?, Employee Relations, Vol 25, No 3 245261

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